● haha, guess who forgot about Daki in the last chapter...

anyway, I will just ignore that and pretend she was there the whole time 👍

Despite this, hope you guys like this chapter! ●

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“Is this far enough?” Akaza asks, silently putting Y/N down on the grass.

She glanced over his shoulder in response, she could slightly see Mitsuri and the others fighting in the distance.

“Yeah.” She nodded.

“What now?” He asked, Y/N could tell he was annoyed by the look in his face.

“We wait for the right time!” She brightly said, which he responded by sighing and sitting down on the ground with his arms crossed.

“Wow… are you mad?” She crouched beside him, poking his cheek. “Did you really wanted to fight that much?”

“….” He only ignored her.

“Hey? Hey? Hey? Are you mad? Hey? Hey?” She kept continuously poking his cheek.

“STOP THAT-!!” He angrily slapped her hand away. “Of course I'm mad! You don't know how frustrating not being able to fight is-” He started to mumble while looking down at his hands, by the look on his face you would think he was being tortured.

“BWAHAHA- Are you having abstinence symptoms or something??” Y/N, lacking tact as always, laughed loudly and teased him.

“SHUT UP-” He grabbed her face. “aAagh-”

“But still…” Her voice came out muffled because of his palm, she gently grabbed his wrist to move his arm away from her face. “Thank you for listening to me anyway, even though you wanted to fight soooo much.” She flashed a big smile at him.

Akaza stared at her in silence, it was suddenly becoming difficult to maintain eye-contact. “Stop doing that.”

“….??? I'm not doing anything?” She tilted her head.

“Yes, you are. You're doing that weird thing that makes it hard to keep being mad with you.”

“Mad?....now that I remember… AAAAAAA YOU APPEARED IN FRONT OF EVERYONE!!” She got up again, starting to panic. “WHAT SHOULD I DO?! I DON'T THINK THEY WILL LET IT GO NOW THAT I SHOWED UP WITH ANOTHER DEMON!!”

Akaza stared blankly at her, suddenly raising a finger and blurting out : “Why don't we ki-”

“Killing them is not an option.” She cut him off. “Jeez, killing can't always be your first choice!”

“It's the most efficient though.” He said, picking his ear while ignoring her rants.

“It doesn't matter if it's the most efficient! Besides, you would only be proving their point!”

“What point?”

“That demons are monstrous, irredeemable, evil creatures that deserve no mercy.” She nonchalantly said while shaking her hand, going back to ramble about what should she do when this fight ends.

“But… Isn't that kind of true?” He suddenly asked.

“You think so? Do you see yourself as a monstrous and irredeemable creature, Akaza?” Y/N responded by throwing him another question.

Akaza froze, he didn't know what to say to that.

He was aware that he wasn't exactly good. In fact, even now, he probably wouldn't really hesitate to kill someone.

“Heeeey? Are you listening? You spaced out all of a sudden!” Y/N said, waving her hand in front of his face.

But even so…. When he was around Y/N, he couldn't help but feel like he wanted to be better for some reason.

He wondered if Daki felt the same way, and that's why she followed her in the first place.

Of course, he wouldn't ever say that aloud to the girl, simply because he knew she would get all smug and tease him, which is annoying.

He sighed, resting his elbow on his thigh and leaning his face on the palm of his hand. “So, what now? Since killing them isn't an option.”

“….hmmmm.....” Y/N finally sat down beside him again, crossing her arms while squeezing her eyes shut and trying to concentrate.

“So?” He arched his brow, waiting for her answer.

“I will leave it to the destiny!!” She suddenly blurted out with a happy smile.

“You-! You're joking… right?” He sweat-dropped.

“Nope! Wanna play cards while we wait for them to finish fighting?” She nonchalantly pulled out an entire deck from her pocket.

“WHY DO YOU HAVE THAT WITH YOU-”

.

.

.

Mitsuri's eyes suddenly snapped open. 'Huh!? Did I lose consciousness??'

Tanjiro, Genya, Nezuko and Daki were on top of her, they had tackled her to the ground to avoid Zogakuten's attack. “GET UP! GET UP! HE'S ATTACKING AGAIN!”

“I KNOW!!”

Tanjiro exclaimed : “We have to protect Kanroji, she's our best shot at defeating him! She's our ray of hope! As long as she lives, we can win for sure!! Let's all win together, none of us are gonna die!!”

Zogakuten prepared another attack, various wind slashes came in their directions.

Daki quickly started to prepare her obi to wrap them around, but Mitsuri beat her to it, lifting her whip-like sword and cutting them down in an instant.

'… Did that do it…?' The demon stared at the dust cloud that formed around the group of people.

As the fog dispersed, the image of Mitsuri and everyone else unharmed was revealed. “Thank you, everyoooone!! I'm so sorry for messing up, even though I'm a hashira!”

She lifted her sword up, exclaiming : “I will never let any of my friends die! The demon hunters are my precious home, upper demon, whatever you are, I don't care!! I won't lose to evil people, now gets your butts ready! It's time to get serious!”

'Dad, mom, thank you for giving birth to me safely.

And thank you for the demon hunters who took me in.

All the people that I saved thanked me with tears in their eyes.

Iguro-san even gave me striped socks.

And Y/N, thank you for never changing the way you looked at me, even after I showed the side of me that I used to be ashamed of.

I wondered if it was okay for me to be strong since I was a girl, and if I could ever live my life without people calling me an inhuman monster.

I suppressed my power out of fear….'

Mitsuri glared down at the demon with a serious expression. “Leave it to me. I'll protect everyone.”

'But I'll stop doing that now.'

Another wood dragon came in their directions, the hashira rapidly running up to it. “I'll do something about this!”

She started to defend herself from multiples dragon attacks. 'I have to increase my heart rate, get my blood circulating, get faster… get… stronger!!'

While Mitsuri fought and held the demon down, the others didn't waste time and went to look for the real demon. “Tanjiro, I shot a bullet at the main guy's body! Where is it?! Do you know?!?

“I do! It's here!”

'Kanroji-san is dealing with the child demon, we have to cut down the main body as fast as we can!'

Zogakuten finally took notice of them. '…!! Those brats!' He started to make a dragon go in their direction, Mitsuri quickly intercepting the attack.

'This girl is moving faster than before! What did she do?! What is she doing?! How the fuck did she?!'

His eyes widened when he took notice of the mark in the format similar to a flower in her neck. 'A birthmark?! Was that there before…? That looks like a demon crest…'

He angrily started to send more attack in her way, which she was easily defending with her sword. 'Absolutely detestable! Thanks to this girl, I can't finish off those brats and the traitors! This is horrible! But she won't last forever, her stamina will run out at some point. All humans will, at some point!'

“AAAAAGHH-!” The four were trying to climb a root that contained the real body inside a sphere at the top, though it kept wiggling and attempting to throw them off.

“U-Ugh-” Daki was exasperatedly setting out to keep the root in place, her obi wrapped tightly around it. 'Should I… Call brother…? N… No! I can do it! I WILL do it! Y/N told ME to protect them, I have to do it!'

“Don't fall off, come on, come on! That tree thing… hurry while the snake dragon thing is away from us!! While Kanroji is stopping it!”

“Huuumphh-!!” Even though Tanjiro said that, it was hard for Nezuko and everyone else to keep up.

'I can't wield my blade like, so… I have to other choice!' And with this, Genya suddenly buried his teeth into the tree and chomped it.

'Whoaaa! He's biting it! His teeth are tough!'

“But your stomach's gonna die, Genya! Will you be okay?!” Despite his surprise, Tanjiro worriedly asked.

Shinazugawa Genya can temporarily gain demonic attributes by eating demons. And if he eats a strong one, he gains regeneration and muscular strength equal to the demon's.

Genya has no physical talent, and he can't use breaths, so he resorted to desperation to reach the pillar's level.

But this isn't something any ordinary person could do.

Genya has a special ability. For a short amount of time, he can become a demon using his bite strength and his special digestive organs, it's a unique talent among the demon hunters.

With this, Genya kept biting and eating the tree until it parted out, it falling off.

'It fell! Now!' Tanjiro took out his sword, ready to cut the wood sphere, various branches started to whip him in response.

Nezuko approached him, using her demon blood art and setting the whole three on fire, the fire also affecting his sword blade and changing it to a bright red color.

“Go!!” Genya, Nezuko and Daki grabbed the sphere, putting it in the perfect position to cut.

Hinokami Kagura : Flame waltz-

He cut it in half, only to see that the demon was gone.

'He ran again!! Where?! Where?! Close….'

Tanjiro then finally took notice of the demon in his small form running away in the distance, he screamed in anger : “YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT! STOP RUNNING AWAY!! DON'T RUN FOR YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES! EVERY SIN YOU'VE COMMITTED, EVERY EVIL DEED, I WILL MAKE YOU TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR EVERYTHING! YOU CAN'T ESCAPE FROM THIS!”

“Everything you do, is never anyone's else fault. Now take responsibility, you two-faced liar.”

The memory from the past flooded in Hantengu's mind, though he kept escaping. 'I haven't said a single lie since I was born. I am a virtuous coward, but despite my plight, nobody will sympathize with me.'

“CUT IT OUT!” Genya suddenly exclaiming, grabbing a whole tree like it was nothing and throwing it in his direction. “YOU DIPSHIIIIIIIIT!!!”

He kept throwing more at him. “GAAAAH! TURD! CUT THE CRAP OUT AND DIE! READ THE MOOD!”

'H-He threw a tree!!' Nezuko, Tanjiro and Daki stared at it flying over to the demon in complete shock.

Hantengu managed to evade them, Nezuko jumped in his direction and tried to scratch him, which he again managed to avoid, Daki approached him and tried to slice him up with her obi, he responded by running away even faster from them.

“HE'S FAST! THE FUCK IS UP WITH THIS GUY, DAMMIT! I CAN'T KEEP UP!” Genya exclaimed while the four ran after him.

'F-Fast!! It's like he can run forever! Before dawn arrives… before Kanroji gets crushed… I won't let that happen! I won't let you win!' Tanjiro thought with a serious expression. However, it was hard to run after him with one of his legs injured.

'Aaaaghh-! Dammit! My legs can't keep up! If only my left leg wasn't weighting me down…!!'

“The breath of thunder makes you focus on your legs the most.” Tanjiro suddenly remembered what Zenitsu told him some time ago. “So, like, it's surprisingly hard to grasp. The size of every muscle you have, but 'once you grasp it, you can go into full focus mode', my old man said that a lot.”

He got into the right position, concentrating his strength in his legs. “Every fiber of your muscle, every vessel of blood, get air pumping through them, put all the power in your legs. All of it.”

“Then explode in a second, like a lighting ripping through the air.”

Tanjiro took the impulse, leaving Nezuko, Genya and Daki beyond in a flash and appearing right behind the demon, immediately swinging his sword at his neck.

'Go!! Go!! This time, give it everything I've got!' The blade was halfway though his neck.

“Heeeeeey… I am pitiful…” Hantengu slowly turned to him while growing in size. “CAN'T YOU SEE THAAAAAAT?!”

He grabbed Tanjiro's face, about to crush his head as blood started to spill out from his nose. “DON'T BULLY THE MEEEEEEEK!!”

Genya grabbed the demon's hand, forcing it apart in an attempt to stop him from crushing the boy's head. “Your logic is all fucked up, you dumb shit!”

Nezuko jumped above them and set him on fire, Daki sliced his arms with her obi, Genya quickly pulling them away.

'Crap, the flames are burning me too because I ate demons before, and Daki can't approach him too because she's a demon-!!' Both Genya and Daki ended up having to get away from them.

“AAGH-!” Tanjiro still hard a firm grip on the sword attached to Hantengu's neck, so much that when he fell over a small cliff that was I'm in front of them, he ended falling down together with the demon and his sister.

“TANJIRO! NEZUKO!” Genya and Daki both immediately came up to the edge of the cliff, looking down to the three on the ground far from them.

“Gaah… gahh.” Hantengu started to slowly get up, the sword was still halfway through his neck, stuck in place. 'Not good… my regeneration is slowing down…Zogakuten is using too much power… I need to get more human flesh…'

He started to slowly walk away. 'I… sense humans nearby… near…'

“Hold it.” Tanjiro's voice interrupted him, he had fallen in a branch attached to the cliff, even though his face was completely drenched in his blood, he still looked down at him in total anger. “You're not getting away. I will chase you down to the depths of hell… and cut your head off.”

Hantengu froze from fear, looking away from the boy and seeing two villagers escaping while carrying multiple swords. 'There…!'

'The two demons were the worst of the four brats, they really got in my way! But in the end, those brats couldn't cut off my head, they only chipped away at me, anyway, I need to eat those humans first…!' He started to run at them.

Tanjiro jumped down from the branch, harshly falling to the ground thanks to his lack of strength left. 'Hurry…! Hurry, just one more time! Just one more push off the ground, then go full focus!'

A sword suddenly fell down the sky, stabbing the ground right in front of him. '…?! A sword?!'

“USE IT! USE THAT, TANJIRO! I BROUGHT IT BACK!” Y/N exclaimed from the top of the cliff, she wailed loudly what Haganekuza (who managed to catch up to her) kept choking her.

“GIVE IT BACK! STOP! I'LL KILL YOU! DON'T USE! I ONLY FINISH THE FIRST STEP, DAMMIT, GIVE IT BACK!” Haganekuza exclaimed as Akaza and Kanamori exasperatedly tried to pull him away from her, they were dumbfounded at how strong his grip on her was.

“DON'T LISTEN TO HIM, TANJIRO, USE IT BEFORE THE SUN RAISES! OR HE'S GONNA GET AWAY!” Y/N exclaimed while ignoring the death stare Haganekuza was giving her.

“Shitty brat!!” He slapped her head. “Ow!!”

'Y/N…' Tanjiro reached to the sword. 'Thank you!!'

He quickly took impulse and appeared right in front of demon, easily cutting off his head.

He looked back, the sky was starting to light up. 'The night is ending! This open field is bad!' Tanjiro quickly started to run in Nezuko's direction.

'Nezuko! Run! Ughh- My voice isn't coming out-!'

Contrary to his expectation, Nezuko started to run up to him with a scared expression. 'No! Nezuko! Don't come here! You're in danger! The sun will raise!'

He held her as soon as she got close enough. “Nezuko, run!! Go hide in the shade!!”

“HUUMPH! HUUM!” She started to point behind him.

“WAAAAAH! RUN! RUN! HE AIN'T DEAD, EVEN THOUGH HIS HEAD GOT CUT OFF!!” The villagers exclaimed while running away from the headless body.

Tanjiro exasperatedly look at the head he cut off, it was laying on the ground with the kanji for 'resentment' written on its tongue.

'His tongue says resentment?! The real body is supposed to have 'fear', the tongue character's is wrong!'

“We- we messed up! We have to stop him!” He tried to go after him, but Nezuko started to burn from the sun as soon as he got away.

“Gyah! Nezuko!” He turned back and hugged her, trying to shield her from the light. “SHRINK! MAKE YOUR BODY SMALLER!”

'The sun hasn't even fully risen, but she's already…!!'

“Waaaaah!” The screams from the villagers ringed on his ears.

'Crap! Someone-! Genya! Y/N!' He looked up at the cliff, both were exasperatedly trying to climb down, Daki couldn't go because of the sun. 'They can't do it! We are too far from the cliff now!'

He turned back to the demon. 'Yeah, the demon is going to get hit by the su- No! He will get to the villagers before that! If I carry Nezuko with me, I won't make it… agh… Aargh! Crap! What to do! What…'

Nezuko decided to make the choice for him, kicking him away from her while he looked at his sister with wide eyes, she only smiled gently at him as the sun rays burned her body away.

He landed on the floor some meters away from his now gone sister, his eyes were filled with tears, but his expression was serious. 'Sniff him out. He didn't run that far.'

'If the real body was actually far away, I would've had smelled it, but he's close. Catch him using the scent, the shape, the color…'

'There. He is still in the demon.' Tanjiro started to concentrate deeply on the headless body running after the villagers, he was starting to slowly see through its clothes and skin, his muscles and organs suddenly becoming visible. 'Found him. He's inside the heart. It's over for you, coward, evil demon!'

“Waaaaah! Oh, shit! Oh, shit! HE'S GONNA CATCH-” The villager's screams were cut short when Tanjiro appeared in front of the demon. “Atone for this, with your life!!” He mercilessly sliced his heart.

He wobbled over to the villagers, falling to the floor. 'I won… but I sacrificed Nezuko…'

“Kamado…” One of the villagers tried to call his attention. “Kamado dono….”

They shook him, pointing behind the boy, he looked over his shoulder to see Nezuko there, standing completely fine under the sun.

“M-m- morning…” She managed to blurt out.

“Nezuko….” He approached her, still in shock, as tears kept falling from his eyes. “Thank the gods… are you okay…? Are you…human?”

“Th-thank gods. Ar… are okay… thank gods… gods…”

'She's talking!! But her eyes and fangs, she's not human yet…'

“Thank you so much, you two… I would never forgive myself if you died, Nezuko…” The villager said.

“Wait… are you okay? You didn't turn to dust and disappear… Y-” Tanjiro realized, quickly hugging her and starting to cry loudly. “WAAAAH! GREAT...THIS IS GREAT! NEZUKO'S SAFE!!”

“So great.” She repeated, smiling.

Genya and Y/N looked at them from the distance, smiling while looking at the heart-warming scene.

“Good for you, Tanjiro, Nezuko…”

Just as they said that, Tanjiro's body finally gave in, falling unconscious. “AAAAH! HE SUDDENLY FELL OVER!”

“YOUNG KAMADO, KEEP YOURSELF TOGETHER!”

“DEAD? DEAD?”

Y/N exasperatedly tried to run to them, but her vision suddenly started to blacken.

H̴͓̜͙̹̽̾̌e̶͕̔y̵͙̬̲̜̑̍͘!̵̟̀͐ ̷̧̮̳̞̾̈́C̶̛͚̘͈̆à̶̖̈́n̵̻̣̗͌́ ̴͔̫̠̺̃̓͝y̶̠̼̿̈́̀̒o̸͓̺͂ū̷̻̫̞̅̔ ̸͔͈̒͋h̸̯̭͐̇̇͜è̴̡͋̄͐ä̴̡̞̘r̸̥͔͛͠ ̶̩͊̒͊̆m̷͔̰͈͛̓͜ĕ̶̥̮͕?̷̨̲̼́

H̵̖̯̠̝̦̭͇͙̙̼̩̠̜͈̫̀̈̄̀̿̑̍̇͘ȩ̴̡̫͍̠͖̟͎͍̭͚͙̰̰̂̌̀͋͗͛́̑́̾̾̚̕y̴̢̡̢͙͚̮̺͚̗̳̖͉̟͍̜̰̗͑̅͌̅̀̐́́̒̀̒͗͊̕ͅ

H̶͓̤̩͖̙̞̜̠̱̀̍̏͊́̀͊͌͊ḙ̶̛͖̖͊͛̿̒͊̅͊̀͆͘̚ẏ̴̢̩̺̲

H̷̠̟̄͘͝͝e̵̛̺̠̟͗̒͜͠y̸̻̦̔̑̊̇̄͠

Y/N? Can you hear me now?

“Ether….?” She managed to mumble before passing out.